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JD.com tops Alibaba when it comes to Singles' Day sales growth

Although Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. created Singles’ Day back to 2009, the e-commerce event has spread to retailers across China.

And while Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales grew 54% this year, other e-commerce companies grew at a faster rate.

JD.com Inc., Alibaba’s largest competitor in China, says orders on Singles’ Day increased by 130%, and gross merchandise volume grew 140% compared to last year. Unlike Alibaba, JD.com doesn’t report its gross merchandise value on Singles’ Day. But In general, Alibaba’s transactions volume are much bigger than JD.com. In the second quarter JD.com’s gross merchandise value was 17% of Alibaba’s.

74% of JD.com’s total orders were placed on mobile devices. And more than 52% of first-time customers on JD.com during the day came from WeChat and Mobile QQ, two popular social media platforms.

Like Alibaba, JD.com is the midst of a major push to drive global brands to sell in China. JD.com announced Thursday that it has established a joint venture with the German e-commerce giant Otto Group to provide business-to-consumer e-commerce services for international brands. The new joint venture, Germany-based Zitra, will serve as an accelerator for international brands looking to expand sales on JD.com by providing services that include third-party operations, marketing, IT support, logistics and customer service.

Some retailers who have connected their stores with online channels also experienced rapid growth on Nov. 11.

Chinese electronics retail chain Suning said its sales during the 24-hour promotion, both from its 1,625 stores and its online stores, grew 358% compared to a year ago. But sales growth at stores alone grew 153%.

Besides its e-commerce site Suning.com, Suning Appliance Company Ltd., also operates a store on Alibaba’s Tmall.com. The retailer’s Tmall store was the No. 3 store on Tmall, in terms of Singles’ Day sales, according to Suning.

Amazon China reported that Singles’ Day sales doubled from its Haiwaigou (which means “buy from overseas”) business, which is a cross-border marketplace selling about 4 million products on Amazon.com to Chinese consumers. In addition, Amazon China says sales of imported products sold by Amazon grew 400% compared with Singles’ Day 2014.

Top-selling global brands on Amazon.cn for the day were Enfagrow, Under Armour, Comotomo, Braun, Manhattan Toy, Similac, Thermos, Fjallraven and Baby Banana, according to Amazon China.

JD.com is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2015 China 500; Suning is No. 3 and Amazon China, No. 5. Alibaba is not ranked in the China 500 because it operates online marketplaces and does not own any merchandise.